After numerous community members spoke out about a quick-build safety improvement project at the intersection of Madison Street, Herrmann Street and Larkin Drive near Monterey High School, the Monterey City Council voted to scrap the project.
The project, which would have transformed the intersection into a traffic circle, was a part of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Safe Routes to School and Vision Zero programs, and would have been funded by an approximately $210,000 Regional Surface Transportation Program Grant. According to the Aug. 4 meeting agenda report, the project concept was presented to the City of Monterey Planning Commission and then to the City Council in November 2023.
“The primary objective of the project is to reduce vehicle speeds and improve visibility and predictability at a complex five-leg intersection where pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles interact,” the agenda report states. “Research consistently shows that even modest reductions in vehicle speed can significantly reduce the likelihood and severity of pedestrian injuries."
The quick-build project would have been a temporary, traffic-calming experiment and city staff would have returned to the City Council after roughly a year to present the results and determine whether the temporary measures would be made permanent.
“A quick-build project is intentionally temporary,” the agenda report states. “It is not intended to address every transportation issue in a neighborhood, nor is it intended to represent a final design. Rather, it allows a community to test improvements, observe actual traffic operations, evaluate safety benefits, and make adjustments before any long-term decisions are considered.”
On June 26, city staff presented the project to the City Council, and the governing body decided that more community feedback was needed before it could move forward. A community meeting about the project was held on July 9, which included a survey. Among the respondents, 38 community members voted to stop the project and six voted to move forward, albeit with some modifications. Meeting attendees expressed concerns that the project would create new challenges for the unique intersection and potentially affect neighborhood character and property values.
“While a small number of attendees supported testing the project,” the agenda report states, “the overwhelming sentiment favored preserving the existing intersection configuration.”
Those sentiments were echoed during public comment at the Council’s Aug. 4 meeting. Following a robust discussion, the Council voted 3-2 to stop the quick-build project indefinitely, with Mayor Tyller Williamson and Councilmember Gino Garcia voting against the motion to scrap the project.
Because the City Council voted to stop the project, the approximately $210,000 in grant funds will be forfeited, and the $29,000 already spent on the project’s design will have to be absorbed by the city, along with the hours already spent on the project by city staff.